The Watertown girls are off to a 3-0 start, with all three victories in the Brass Division, and for one of those wins, they have a familiar name to thank.

Freshman center Abby Collier, in her first varsity start, pulled down 13 rebounds and scored 12 points to lift the Indians over Ansonia, 50-39, Tuesday in the Robert B. Cook Gymnasium.

There have been two other Colliers in the Watertown lineup, a Maggie and Hannah, and Tuesday, Abby's debut completed the set, and what a debut. The Indians dominated Ansonia in the first half, ran off to a 36-17 halftime lead, and Collier was a big part of that. She scored eight of her points in the game's first nine minutes, and had 10 rebounds by the half.

She was in the lineup due to an injury.

"She didn't know she was starting until about six minutes before the game," said Watertown coach Ed Lopes. "When I told her, her face was bright-eyed," he added, making his own eyes wide like saucers.

With Collier having little trouble in the paint, that opened things up for Watertown's Jamie Zoldy on the perimeter. The senior scored 16, 12 in the first half, including a pair of 3-point field goals in the first quarter.

The Indians were near perfect in that first half.

"We played one of the better halves this season," Zoldy said. "We hope to execute a little more than last year, and use our post. We have an advantage in height."

The Indians crashed the boards, played defense, and ran the half-court efficiently.

"The first half was tremendous," Lopes said, "but I went in at halftime and warned them that Ansonia is potent."

News flash: Lopes was correct.

The Chargers (1-1) won the second half in Watertown Tuesday when their sensational guard, Melissa Tirella, in the words of Lopes, "took over. She can go crazy. She is one of the best players in the NVL. She did exactly what the star should do on a team."

Tirella scored 25 on the evening, 14 in the second half, and even though Watertown held a 20-point lead in the third, Tirella made the hometown fans squirm as Ansonia trimmed the lead to eight.

The way the Chargers played in that second half is "what you should expect from Ansonia," Tirella said. "We should have come out in a man (defense), because we would have had more energy."

Ansonia played aggressive defense, put bodies on bodies under the boards and did some rebounding, and then put the ball in Tirella's hands.

And as Zoldy explained, "I think we (Watertown) fell asleep and got a little too comfortable. It was a half-long struggle to pull through."

Coach Pat Lynch's Chargers have rallied from a nine-point deficit to beat St. Paul in the opener, in OT, but was too far out to do the same against the Indians.

"We didn't come out with anything," Lynch said, "but we showed a no-quit attitude. We have got to start a little better."

Tirella was all-everything, adding four rebounds and three steals, while Tierney Lawlor had seven steals and Quanisha Finney nine boards for the Chargers. Watertown received nine points and nine rebounds from Sara Selimovski, eight rebounds from Meg Perrin, and eight points from Jules Rinaldi.

But it was the double-double from Collier that won it for the Indians, or at least, created the much-needed cushion that earned the team a third win in three times out.

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